Cheques could not be scrapped until “a suitable alternative is found”, Mark Hoban, the financial secretary to the Treasury, has said, in a setback to Payments Council plans to end cheque clearing from 2018.
In a letter to Andrew Tyrie MP, chairman of the Treasury select committee, Mr Hoban said: “Until this is demonstrated, I do not believe that there is a credible and coherent case for abolishing cheques.”
He said ministers would “intervene… if there is any threat that cheques may be withdrawn without suitable alternatives being put in place at all”.
Payment volumes
Last year 620 million payments were made by cheque, compared with 6.29 billion by debit card and 1.88 billion by credit card.
The Payments Council, which represents banks and payment groups, told MPs it had not yet carried out a cost benefit analysis of the plans and had yet to agree a replacement. Mr Tyrie told Richard North, the council’s chairman, that the situation was “a shocking mess, a scandal”.
